Liverpool, October 19, 2025 – The Anfield cauldron, once an impenetrable fortress under Jürgen Klopp’s roar, cracked wide open on Sunday as Manchester United stunned the Reds with a gritty 2-1 Premier League victory, extending Arne Slot’s misery to four defeats in six league games. In a match dripping with northwest venom, Bruno Fernandes’ 67th-minute penalty – coolly dispatched after a VAR-awarded spot-kick for Cody Gakpo’s handball – and Kobbie Mainoo’s 82nd-minute counter-strike sealed Ruben Amorim’s first derby triumph, leaving Mohamed Salah’s 12th-minute opener as a lone consolation. The Kop, silenced for stretches amid United’s disciplined 3-4-3 press, erupted in boos at the whistle, a stark echo of the club’s slide from invincible champions to third-place pretenders, trailing leaders Manchester City by nine points. As flares lit the night sky and scarves knotted in protest, former Liverpool winger Ryan Babel delivered a gut-punch verdict that has reverberated from Merseyside to the Maldives: “I don’t know who needs to hear this… but this current squad are no longer the Liverpool team of last season.”
Babel, the 38-year-old Dutch flair merchant who dazzled in 91 Reds appearances between 2007 and 2011, didn’t mince words in a blistering post-match rant on his ‘Ryan Babel Podcast’, broadcast live from his Dubai base. “Since his arrival at Anfield, he’s completely turned the club upside down — just like what happened at his former club,” Babel fumed, his target clear: Arne Slot, the 47-year-old Dutch tactician whose Feyenoord tenure ended in Eredivisie glory but left scars of upheaval. Slot, inheriting Klopp’s 2024-25 Premier League juggernaut – 98 points, 102 goals, an unbeaten Anfield run – promised evolution, not revolution. Yet, in 2025-26, his high-line tweaks and squad rotation have sown discord, with Liverpool conceding 12 goals in six defeats across all competitions, including Champions League stumbles against AC Milan and Benfica. “Feyenoord? He flipped it, won stuff, but alienated half the squad. Now here? Same script. The energy’s gone, the fight’s evaporated. This isn’t transition; it’s turmoil.”
The derby debacle encapsulated the malaise. Liverpool dominated early, Salah – the Egyptian eternal, defying his 33 years with a trademark curl into the top corner – evoking ghosts of his 32-goal title haul. But Slot’s 4-2-3-1, bereft of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s visionary crosses after his £100 million Madrid defection, faltered. Conor Bradley, the 22-year-old right-back thrust into the breach, was shredded by Marcus Rashford’s pace, committing three fouls in the first half alone. Midfield maestros Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch, lauded as Slot’s “perfect pivots” pre-season, wilted under United’s press, completing just 72% of passes – their lowest since Klopp’s 2019-20 dip. Darwin Núñez, the Uruguayan firecracker, squandered two gilt-edged chances, his xG overperformance (1.2 to zero goals) a microcosm of Liverpool’s toothless edge. Amorim, vindicated after United’s ninth-place rut, smirked post-match: “We came to bite, not bark.” Slot, ashen-faced, lamented: “Moments decide derbies, but we lacked belief.”
Babel reserved his sharpest barbs for Florian Wirtz, the £100 million German prodigy signed from Bayer Leverkusas in a splash-the-cash statement of Slot’s intent. The 22-year-old, Slot’s “heir to De Bruyne” at Feyenoord, has been a spectral presence: zero goals, one assist in 10 starts, hooked at halftime in four of his last six outings. “He’s a total flop,” Babel blasted, urging immediate benching. “Wirtz looks lost – no spark, no vision. Slot’s system demands creators who press like demons, but he’s floating, not fighting. Bench him now; there are better substitutes waiting. Harvey Elliott’s itching, Stefan Bajcetic’s ready from the cold. This kid’s upside-downing the midfield like Slot’s tactics.” Wirtz’s heat map against United? Clustered centrally, 28 touches, zero key passes – a far cry from his 2024-25 Leverkusen sorcery (18 goals, 19 assists in the invincible double). Slot’s defense – “Adaptation takes time” – rang hollow, echoing Babel’s Feyenoord critique where Slot benched stars like Calvin Stengs amid “upheaval.”
The fallout has been swift and savage. Anfield attendance dipped to 58,000 from its 61,000 capacity, with #SlotOut trending at 250,000 posts on X, fans chanting “Jürgen’s Reds” in the 75th minute. FSG executives, huddled in Boston, eye the £150 million summer outlay – Wirtz, Alexander Isak (£80m flop with three goals), and Viktor Gyökeres (£60m benchwarmer) – as sunk costs in a rebuild gone awry. Virgil van Dijk, the 34-year-old colossus, cut a forlorn figure: “Last season’s hunger? It’s faded. We need to rediscover it.” Salah, defiant post-match with a captain’s armband salute, posted cryptically: “Storms pass, but unity endures.” Yet, whispers of Saudi sirens (£1.5m/week from Al-Hilal) grow louder, his contract ticking to 2026.
Babel, no stranger to Anfield angst – fined by the FA in 2011 for tweeting referee Howard Webb after a North London derby farce – tempered his tirade with hope: “Slot’s smart, but he must steady the ship. This squad’s talent is there; the coach’s flip needs fixing before it’s fatal.” Pundits piled on: Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports called it “Liverpool’s darkest derby since 2015,” while Gary Neville gloated: “United’s grit exposed the gloss.” As the international break looms, Slot retreats to Dutch shores for reflection, his honeymoon shattered. For a club that crowned Klopp’s farewell with silverware, this isn’t evolution – it’s erosion. Babel’s words, raw and resonant, serve as wake-up: “I don’t know who needs to hear this… but this current squad are no longer the Liverpool team of last season.” Anfield, awaken – or risk the abyss.
